Heritage Hysteria
by TomtomtheWriter
Summary: Duck and Arthur get into a feud, which is quickly dealt with by two visiting engines.


Duck and Arthur are both rather similar. They're both tank engines, they both have six driving wheels, and they both work on the Island of Sodor. But Duck comes from the Great Western Railway, and is very proud of this; Arthur is from the London Midland and Scottish Railway, and is more humble when it comes to his heritage. One evening, the two were at Search and Rescue Centre, and Duck was talking to the Logging Locos.

"Yes, the Flying Scotsman was a good engine, but I'm certain City of Truro got the record first. He had to, he's-"

"He's Great Western, right?" put in Arthur. "Duck, we all enjoy hearing about your old railway, but could you talk about something else for once?"

"And what's your problem with Great Western engines?" quipped Duck.

The other three engines all shared an awkward glance. "Uh, we'd love to keep talking," began Bash, "but…"

"We have other things to do," said Dash quickly.

"Uh… that-that's right," put in Ferdinand. "I have some logs to deliver to… Wellsworth!"

"Yeah, and I have to collect some… holidaymakers from Killdane," replied Bash.

The two engines scurried away, leaving Dash, who was still trying to come up with an excuse. Just then the Rescue Centre bells rang.

"Emergency!" called Rocky. "Toby's fallen off the bend at Gordon's Hill, and his crew are injured!"

Dash, seeing this as an opportunity to get away, was coupled up to Rocky. A doctor climbed into his cab, and he whistled quickly away. And for the rest of the week, Duck would work his hardest, trying to outperform Arthur.

"I'll show that LMS engine how strong we Great Western engines are," he would mutter.

Arthur would continue trying to make friendly conversation with him, but Duck would have none of it. One windy afternoon, Duck was taking a goods train along the coastal route. He passed by Arthur, who was waiting at the halt with some passengers. Once the guard's whistle blew, the big tank engine hurried after him.

"Hey, Duck-"

"I'm not interested, Arthur."

"But-" Arthur stopped as he noticed that the bridge ahead of them had given way. He then slammed on his brakes. "Duck, stop, the bridge is out!"

But Duck still wouldn't listen. "Oh, typical LMS engines, always panicking over-"

He never got to finish his sentence because he had fallen from the edge of the bridge and into the river. When the Fat Controller came, he scolded Duck severely, and then asked Arthur to help pull Duck out. His bufferbeam was twisted and the paint had scratched. The Great Western engine was not happy.

"Why didn't you warn me the bridge had fallen, Arthur? I never expected your type to be cruel."

"'My type', huh?" Arthur was about to lose patience, but tried not to release his frustrations. "Well, I suppose 'your type' blame others for their own mistakes, am I right?"

Arthur ignored Duck as he began ranting at him, but the Fat Controller heard from the halt's platform. He then got inside Winston and hurried back to Knapford. Two days later, he told Arthur to bring Duck to Vicarstown station.

"I wonder why he wanted us here," Arthur murmured to himself.

"Perhaps he's sending you back to the mainland for causing my damages."

Arthur felt hurt; but before either of them could say anything else, they heard two whistles from the viaduct. They looked to see two engines racing towards the station; one of them was painted dark blue and hauling ten chocolate and cream coaches, while the other was dark green and hauling ten crimson coaches. The Fat Controller stepped onto the platform as they came closer.

"Ah, I see you're just in time to meet our guests," he chuckled. "I'm sure they'll help you with your little feud."

The two racing engines braked as they approached the station, the green one coming to a stop first. He laughed triumphantly as the blue one stopped beside him.

"I told you I'd win this, Eddie!" he teased.

"You only won because I didn't want to embarrass you, Scott," retorted the blue engine.

"Sir, who are these engines?" asked Duck.

"I am Scots Guardsman, but you can call me Scott, if you like."

"King Edward the Second, at your service."

"King Edward…" Duck gasped with realization. "You're a Great Western engine!"

"And you, Scott, you're LMS, aren't you?" put in Arthur.

"That's right," replied Scott. "I was an LMS engine, just like Eddie was Great Westerner."

"Wait a second." Duck was puzzled. "What do you mean by 'was'?"

"Everything's changed on the Mainland," explained King Edward. "Our old railways have all been merged into one, so we've all had to come to terms with that."

"But, what about our heritage?" put in Arthur.

"As long as we're steaming, Arthur, our heritage is in safe buffers."

"Now that you've both heard that," put in the Fat Controller, "I want you to take Duck to the Steamworks, Arthur, then go back to your branch line."

Arthur whistled as he steamed away. The journey to Steamworks was quiet for a while, but soon Duck spoke up. "I'm sorry about what I've said to you, Arthur. I guess I'm just proud of my heritage."

"That's fine, Duck. Everyone's proud of where they've come from. But do you know what matters now?"

"What?"

Arthur smiled. "What matters is that we're both Sodor engines."

And as they traveled along, they couldn't have felt prouder.


End file.
